Performance of the Silicon-On-Insulator Pixel Sensor for X-ray Astronomy, XRPIX6E, Equipped with Pinned Depleted Diode Structure

TL;DR

This paper presents XRPIX6E, a silicon-on-insulator pixel sensor with a pinned depleted diode structure that significantly improves spectral performance for X-ray astronomy, especially in event-driven readout mode.

Contribution

Introduction of XRPIX6E with a pinned depleted diode structure that reduces interference and enhances spectral performance in both readout modes.

Findings

Improved energy resolution at 6.4 keV: 236 eV (Frame mode), 335 eV (Event-Driven mode)

Enhanced spectral performance due to the buried p-well shield

Performance differences suggest further mechanisms affecting event-driven readout

Abstract

We have been developing event driven X-ray Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) pixel sensors, called "XRPIX", for the next generation of X-ray astronomy satellites. XRPIX is a monolithic active pixel sensor, fabricated using the SOI CMOS technology, and is equipped with the so-called "Event-Driven readout", which allows reading out only hit pixels by using the trigger circuit implemented in each pixel. The current version of XRPIX has lower spectral performance in the Event-Driven readout mode than in the Frame readout mode, which is due to the interference between the sensor layer and the circuit layer. The interference also lowers the gain. In order to suppress the interference, we developed a new device, "XRPIX6E" equipped with the Pinned Depleted Diode structure. A sufficiently highly-doped buried p-well is formed at the interface between the buried oxide layer and the sensor layer, and acts as a shield layer. XRPIX6E exhibits improved spectral performances both in the Event-Driven readout mode and in the Frame readout mode in comparison to previous devices. The energy resolutions in full width at half maximum at 6.4 keV are 236 $\pm$ 1 eV and 335 $\pm$ 4 eV in the Frame and Event-Driven readout modes, respectively. There are differences between the readout noise and the spectral performance in the two modes, which suggests that some mechanism still degrades the performance in the Event-Driven readout mode.